Packaging machines



' A ril 28, 1959 SQPARKES ET AL PACKAGING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 13, 1954 w w 5. F: a Ku Mi A P 5 1 Y. =5 w; 2 .1. 5 o Q a April 28, 1959 Filed Dec. 15, 1954 s. PARKES ETAL 2,883,926

PACKAGING MACHINES 2 Shets-Sheet 2 10 .FORWARD.

United States Patent PACKAGING MACHINES Stanley Parkes and Robert David Sansum, Brentford,

England, assignors to Gerrard Industries Limited, Brentford, England Application December 13, 1954, Serial No. 474,942

Claims priority, application Great Britain December 16, 1953 7 Claims. (Cl. 100-8) This invention relates to packaging machines of the kind in which flat metal band is fed from a reel to be passed around a package by the rotation of a power operated drum and is tensioned around the package, after its free end has been clamped in a gripper, by rotation of the drum in the opposite sense to that which causes feeding of the band.

It is the object of the present invention to provide means by which the operative control of such machines is simplified.

According to the invention a machine of the above kind is provided with a single control means which functions not only to shift the gripper into and out of the clamping position but also to preset a reversing gear control means so that on operation of a second control means the feeding and tensioning drum driven from that gear will rotate in the sense to feed band when the gripper is unclamped and in the sense to tension the band when the gripper is clamped.

A rockable beam is used to shift a dog between two of the wheels of a conventional three mitre wheel reversing gear and one end of an arm engaging this beam is shifted from one side of the beam pivot to the other by a spring toggle linkage operated by a lever connected to the gripper operating means, the opposite end of the arm being connected to a lever by which it can be moved to rock the beam.

It is preferred to use one pedal for operating the gripper and gear presetting mechanism and a second pedal to actuate the reverse gear dog.

It is a feature of the invention that the control mechanism used enables the gripper or grippers to be adjusted relative to a slide by which they are moved into clamping position, so that any wear can be compensated.

It is a further feature of the invention that a manually operable lever is provided by which the gripper can be unclamped and the gear presetting mechanism can be returned to the position for a feeding rotation of the band drum even after the first above-mentioned pedal has been operated.

The above and other parts of the invention are embodied in a preferred form of packaging machine control mechanism which will now be described in some detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a front elevation of a machine emboying the control mechanism showing certain parts in their alternative operative position in chain-dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through a reversing gearbox shown in Fig. 1, the plane of the section being parallel with the elevation of Fig. l, and

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View taken substantially along the plane defined by reference line 3-3 of Fig. 1, illustrating the packaging portion of the device, with a parcel shown in phantom lines.

A foot pedal 1 is provided for operation of the grippers of the machine and for presetting a gear box operator. A second foot pedal 24 is provided for actuating the gear 2,883,926 Patented Apr. 28, 1959 box operator to cause the band feeding and tensioning drum 31 to rotate in the sense preset by the first pedal.

The first pedal 1 is connected by means of a hinged joint 1a to a rod 2 whose other end is pivotally connected through a shackle 2a to an arm of a hand lever 7.

The hand lever 7 is splined to a solid shaft 8 which is free to turn within a hollow shaft 9 which passes through the machine gear box 10 that is mounted on a machine body 38. The solid shaft 8 passes right through the gear box 10 without being connected in any way with the mechanism within the box.

A lever 11 is splined to the opopsite end of the solid shaft and engages a slot in the underside of a slidable gripper carrier 12.

A gripper 13, which is adjustable relative to the gripper carrier block 12 by means of lock nuts 12a, slides in the base of a sealing block mechanism 14.

The arrangement is such that by depressing the first pedal 1 the gripper 13 can be brought to immobilize metallic sealing band 5 between itself and a stationary gripper 16. If it is desired to release the metallic sealing band 5 this may be done by pulling the hand lever 7 upwards to reverse the movement of the pedal.

The hand lever 7 is a bell crank lever with a dependent arm 17 at the lower end of which a pin 18 is rigidly attached. This pin is free to slide in a slot 19 in a changeover lever 20 which is pivotally mounted on the machine body 38 at 20a. The change-over lever 20 carries a boss 21 which is captive to itself but free to rotate. A hole in this boss 21 permits a free sliding fit on a gear box I actuating rod 22. The lower end of the gear box actuating rod 22 is pivotally mounted to a lever 23 which is connected to the second pedal 24; and is arranged so that when this pedal is depressed the lever 23 connected to it is also depressed. A spring 25 connected between the lever 23 and the machine body exerts sufiicient upward force to return the pedal 24 to its upper position when required. The upper end of the gear box actuating rod 22 carries a part sphere 26 which is free to slide in a suitably shaped slot 27 of a rockable beam 28. This beam is rigidly fixed by a bracket 39 to the above-mentioned hollow shaft 9 to which also is rigidly attached a ring 29. By means of a sliding dog 30 the rotation of the band feeding and tensioning drum 31 can be effected in either sense by the conventional arrangement of three mitre gears 32, 33, 34 of which one 34 is connected by dowels 35 to the drum driving shaft 36.

A long tension spring 37 attached to the boss 21 on the change-over lever 20 and anchored at its upper end to the frame of the machine compels the gear box actuating rod 22 to occupy either of the extreme positions of its connection with the rockable beam 28' in the manner of a toggle switch and thus effects rotation of the band feeding and tensioning drum 31 in the desired sense when the pedal 24 is depressed.

A relationship between the first pedal 1 and the second pedal 24 is established through the hand lever 7 and the change-over lever 20 such that when the first pedal 1 has been depressed and the gripper 13 has been moved across to immobilize the sealing strip 5, the gear box actuating rod 22 has been moved to the position that selects the gear box drive to cause the band feeding and tensioning drum 31 to rotate so as to withdraw surplus sealing band 5 and tension it around a parcel A.

It will be understood that the invention is not restricted to the details of the specific embodiment described, which may be varied without departing from the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A packaging apparatus comprising means for rotatably supporting a reel of flat metal strip to be wrapped around a package, means for releasably gripping the free end of the strip to enable tensioning of the strip after it has been passed around a package, reversible means for driving the reel supporting means in one direction to feed the free end portion of the strip from the reel to be passed around a package and be gripped by said gripping means and in the reverse direction for tensioning the strip around the package, power means for driving said reversible means and including normally inactive clutch means selectively engageable with said reversible means for driving said reversible means in the desired direction, control means for selectively engaging said clutch means with said reversible means and including presetting means to determine the direction of drive to be transmitted by said reversible means, and a single manual control means for simultaneously actuating said gripping means and said presetting means to open said gripping means to receive the free end of the strip as said presetting means is set so that said reversible means will drive the reel supporting means to feed the strip from the reel and to :close said gripping means to clamp the strip as said presetting means is set so that said reversible means will drive the reel supporting means to take-up and tension the strip.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 including a second manual means for actuating said clutch control means to cause said reversible means to drive said reel supporting means in the preset direction.

3. A packaging apparatus comprising a frame; means on said frame for rotatably supporting a reel of flat metal strip to be wrapped around a package; means on said frame for releasably gripping the free end of the strip to enable tensioning of the strip after it has been passed around a package; reversible power-operated means on said frame for driving the reel supporting means in one direction to feed the free end portion or the strip from the reel to be passed around a package and be gripped by said gripping means and in the reverse direction for tensioning the strip around the package; said reversible power-operated means including a drive shaft, a three bevel-wheel reversing gear, a shiftable drive element driven by said drive shaft and selectively engageable with the wheels of said reversing gear, and a driven shaft driven by said reversing gear and in driving relation with said reel supporting means; means on said frame for shifting said drive element into engagement with a selected wheel and including a beam pivotally mounted intermediate its ends and operatively connected with said drive element to shift said element in accordance with the direction in which said beam is tilted, an actuating member for tilting said beam and having a connection with said beam that is slidable between operative positions on opposite sides of the beam pivot, and a spring toggle linkage connected with said actuating member for shifting and retaining its connection with the beam to either side of the beam pivot; and a single manual control means connected with said gripping means and said spring toggle linkage for simultaneously actuating said gripping means and said spring toggle linkage for presetting the connection between said member and said beam to open said gripping means to receive the free end of the strip as said member-beam connection is set so that said reversible means will drive the reel supporting means to feed the strip from the reel and to close said gripping means to clamp the strip as said member-beam connection is set so that said reversible means will drive the reel supporting means to take-up and tension the strip.

4-. A packaging machine according to claim 3 wherein said single control means comprises a pedal to operate it by foot.

5. A packaging machine according to claim 3 wherein a pedal is connected to the beam actuating member to operate it by foot.

6. A packaging machine according to claim 3 wherein the gripping means includes a gripper adjustable relative to a slide by which it is moved into and out of clamping position.

7. A packaging machine according to claim 3 wherein said single control means includes a manually operable lever to shift said linkage when desired to a position to feed out strip even after an operation of the linkage to preset the gear for a tensioning of the band.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,194,108 Wright Mar. 19, 1940 2,597,675 Sackett May 20, 1952 2,707,429 Leslie et al May 3, 1955 2,730,036 Cheesman Jan. 10, 1956 

